What do you guys think about these 2 fish?

Jacobfreibergi Eureka Red


Eureka Red Male or Female?

Very nice ! Line breed jacobfreibergi from Otter point. One of the tougher Aulonocaras. Great looking fish. Pic 3 and 4 looks like femals alright.

Gorgeous. That male is stunning and it looks like good coloring in the females if that's what they prove to be.

How big are they? When did they get color? The male looks so tiny to have such color.

Well this may surprise you.

This is the same fish.
The first 2 pics are when I first got it. 1 1/2 inch
The 2nd 2 pics are now. 2 inches. I believe it to be a color enhanced female. Sold as a male.

Any input would be appreciated. This makes me so mad.
Even if it is a male. I do think the enhancing does hurt the fish and shorten their life span.

Roger, I understand your feelings. I don't know much about these color enhanced fish. When kept Malawi cichlids (30 years ago) we did not have all these different versions.

I wonder what Larry has to say about that. I will send this post to him by e-mail to make sure he gets it.

Oooooh, ok, makes sense now.

It was definitely hormoned, so a number of things are possible.

1. It's female.
2. It's male and the hormone's have worn off. It will color up again one day.
3. It's male and the hormone's have worn off. It will never fully color up again.
4. It's male, hormone's are gone but it's color will come back, just never fully.

It's life expectancy has a higher chance of being shorter, but it's not 100% if that makes sense.

Does the hormoning affect more than just the color? The first two pictures look more male in the shape of the fins to me than the following pictures. (They appear pointier, if that makes any sense.)

cichlidman wrote:Well this may surprise you.

This is the same fish.
The first 2 pics are when I first got it. 1 1/2 inch
The 2nd 2 pics are now. 2 inches. I believe it to be a color enhanced female. Sold as a male.

Any input would be appreciated. This makes me so mad.
Even if it is a male. I do think the enhancing does hurt the fish and shorten their life span.

There is couple other possibilities,
1.) If this is a solo male with no females.
2.) He may be stressed and showing female colors to hide.


Does he have any females?
What are the other fish with him?

jimmymac wrote:

cichlidman wrote:Well this may surprise you.

This is the same fish.
The first 2 pics are when I first got it. 1 1/2 inch
The 2nd 2 pics are now. 2 inches. I believe it to be a color enhanced female. Sold as a male.

Any input would be appreciated. This makes me so mad.
Even if it is a male. I do think the enhancing does hurt the fish and shorten their life span.

There is couple other possibilities,
1.) If this is a solo male with no females.
2.) He may be stressed and showing female colors to hide.

Do you have any females?
What are the other fish with him?

He is alone due to his size.
No females or males to stress him.

He is treated with kid gloves by my wife.
We lost 1 a year and a half ago to the bigger ones.
Patty babies him/her. Planned to put him in the show tank.
I was going to move my Dolphins to the 75. Make my other 125 a all male show tank for peacock/haps.

Given the size and the color he had, I'd say he was probably hormoned, especially if he came from a big box store or one of their suppliers.

Hormones can affect his health and later color, but not always. You'll basically have to just wait and see.

Of course, He could still be a She.

The strange part the fins in the first two definitely look male but the second two sure look female.Roger believe me they will hear about this from me.Sorry buddy.

I have seen hormoned fish around,but I never order them in to where I work,just doesn't make sense. I know at the end it makes the customer upset when this sort of thing happens. (color fading after a month or two)
Its hard to tell for sure with a 2 inch fish whether it will be a male or female,,,even if it's hormoned,,,if it is in fact a male the color should return.
I have ordered fish in and they unexpectantly had super color (this happens when you try different suppliers),even at a larger 4-5 inch size,,,they lost the super color and ended up with normal coloration,but I have to say that there were some that ended up being females.
Time will tell.

Cheers,Larry

It´s one thing to change color, but this one seems to have changed the shape of the fins as well. Very strange.

Well, guys I will swear that this is the same fish.
He has been there since he came home.
That is the tank he was floated in and the tank we were letting him gain a little size in.
He was was so little when we got him compared to the others.

cichlidman wrote:Well, guys I will swear that this is the same fish.
He has been there since he came home.
That is the tank he was floated in and the tank we were letting him gain a little size in.
He was was so little when we got him compared to the others.

I do believe you. I just did´nt know that even the fins can change like that on a hormoned fish. Very strange.

The pec fins on the male in the first two shots are twice as long than the male in the last 2 shots. As far as that being a female I diught it. He has pretty sharp corners on his fins for a Juvinile.


No way I believe that is the same fish.



Liar, LoLoL

Well it does not matter who believes it or not.
I do not lie about stuff like this.
As a matter of fact I try to not lie at all.

It is the same fish. I think Vince will tell you.
Vince has been to my house and seen the fish.
I would never try to pull a scam like that.
Nothing to gain from it.

My wife will tell you not a good idea to call me a liar.

Roger, I think Jimmy is just yanking your chain a little. (Note the lol.)

Like I said in my first post, the difference in the fins is remarkable. I do believe you. I just wasn't aware that hormoning could do that -- I always thought of it as color enhancing.

Okay! Sorry I missed that Jimmy.

Thanks Betty.. Always need a woman to keep us straight.

Looks like a male to Me Roger.Color will probably come back later.Wish folks wouldn't feed hormones to fish:(

amazing color change!